Re: Non-resident allocation too high
I'll tell you one thing (ok, a few things):
There is bad blood between many resident hunters and the GOABC (and sometimes the animosity toward the GOABC bleeds into animosity against any GO). This is unfortunate, because in one respect we are all in the same boat and should be paddling the same way, but there is a perception that some of the people in the boat get a better deal and that some of the people in the boat are choosing holes in it.
This bad blood revolves around allocation, quota and the tenure system. I've heard the explanations about why the quota and tenure system are the only way the GO business can work in BC, and I've heard the explanations of why it's so beneficial, and I've heard other explanations as well, but I have to be honest - none of those explanations are effective sales pitches for people who are critical of the GOABC.
If we want people to paddle the boat in the same direction we need to remove the perception that some people get a better seat and that some people are chopping holes in the boat.
This is for you, bearvalley. See if you can answer these without telling me I'm full of crap or attacking my motives. If you can you might convince a few other guys (like the really anti GO ones). I'm not looking for a fight. It's just an intellectual exercise.
1) Why should any business get a quota of a public resource? Most businesses don't get one.
2) What makes GO so special that they need one?
3) *If* they need that quota to make the business viable, why should it matter to the public that their business is viable? What's the public benefit? Most businesses have to survive own their own without government help.
4) If you can answer #3, should the quota throw off a benefit of inflating the value of a tenure so that a GO makes (or is perceived to make) a big windfall capital gain?
5) The NACM says market hunting has to be eliminated. How is selling a trophy hunt not market hunting?
Again, I'm not attacking you, but trying to get some of the anti-GO objections out in the open. I'm not rabidly anti-GO so I may not have framed them all accurately and I'm using my imagination a bit to illustrate where I think some guys are coming from. And actually, other guys aside from you can answer, but you're fairly knowledgeable and I think you want to move forward from where we're stuck, so...
As for what has BCWF done for people up north? There is no question BCWF has to evolve and demonstrate that it delivers value. It's moving that way but it is still falling down. It's the old story: do we use the vehicle we have, which has many positives, or do we start a whole new one, which will be very difficult? One challenge is that I'm not sure everyone involved in BCWF recognizes how poorly it is thought of in some quarters, especially among people who should be shoulder to shoulder with us. We've got work to do there, no question.
Rob Chipman
"The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders" - Ed Abbey
"Grown men do not need leaders" - also Ed Abbey